Idea Enablers

03 April 2020

#WFH

#WFH

In these difficult times of COVID-19 and self-quarantine, many are having difficulties working from home. At Idea Enablers, we’ve been working remotely for about a decade now and would like to share some tried and true pointers for a more productive “work from home” scenario.

Dress for success: Starting our day already dressed as if we were going to an office gives you the right mindset to tackle the tasks of the day. You may find that showing up in your jammies and bunny slippers makes it more difficult to seriously focus on work.

Create a home office space: Make sure you have a designated area set up just for your work. This can be your own dedicated home office or just a portion of the kitchen counter.

Stay motivated: Try to apply as much self-discipline as possible to stay on task. Resist the urge to check on personal matters or throw a load of laundry in, as these distractions will make it difficult to focus on work.

Work vs. home hours: Clearly set your work and personal hours and stick with it. This will help you keep the balance between work and home life and prevent you from working 16-hour days, or on the flip side: a 4-hour day. It’s easy to get distracted when working from home with things like doing the dishes, running to the grocery store, or even mowing the lawn. Save those activities for the designated home time.

You may find yourself getting a bit lonely and isolated when working from home and this may be especially true during these uncertain times. We find that staying connected with co-workers and clients helps minimize the isolation.

Phone Calls: Sometimes just a quick call to a client to check in, or clarify questions in an email, will help you feel connected. And this will actually save you time going back and forth on email.

Skype: Stay connected with your team using Skype. An ongoing Skype chat helps us collaborate even from a distance and an occasional video chat will replace a quick “water cooler” conversation. We also use Skype to address quick questions and save the team a few emails.

Breaks: Make sure to take an occasional break too. Taking time to stretch your legs or even a quick walk will help maintain or boost your energy.

Stay home, stay safe everyone! We have a feeling this WFH thing is going to be much more popular even after the stay-at-home order is lifted.

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